id keep the spare in the garage when i replace the wheels. I remember i had stock 16in wheels on my S14 and when i switched to 18s....then once i ran a flat on my car...having 18 inch wheels and a single full sized 16 looked bad with the car dipped to a single corner and the car was lowered..soo.....eventually because of this i destroyed that wheel bearing after a short limp back home...

if the spare is a 18 inch wheel ..and i replace the factory wheels with ..lets say 18 inch volks...then maybe i might keep it. Then take it out during track days.

Gotta have a spare. Run-flats handle like crap and way too expensive. Plus im a do-it-yourself kind of guy and I'm not scrapping that fix-a-flat crap of my rim before I put my new tire on. (yes I have a tire changer :P )

I'll gladly forgo a spare tire for a small plug-in air compressor and a patch kit.

I have a hunch that those dissing run-flats haven't driven on the current generation of them [i.e. Continential's ContiProContact SSR and Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D RoF]. They're quite livable, despite the inbred ignorant hatred towards them.

i have AAA so i dont care either way

I personally would forgo the spare and just have a can of fix a flat in the car for the weight reduction.

The genuine fix a flat stuff washes off with water. If you are scraping it or complaining about having a hard time with it then you are either just trying to jack up the price for a customer or are lazy. Grab a garden hose and it washes away. Really. No kidding.

OEM tire fix stuff may not be so easy to deal with though. Go for the good stuff.

+ Mini Cooper S
The regular Cooper has a spare but for the S, the turbo takes up the space the battery normally occupies, so the battery is relocated to the space the spare normally occupies. I think manufacturers use run-flats as an excuse to not provide a spare. I would want a spare (and no run-flats).

Run-flats will ruin the ride quality. I'll gladly take a donut spare and take it out when I want outright performance.

never had a spare in any of my cars in 12+ yrs of driving. have AAA and suprisingly never been had a flat on the road. even in my BMW i replaced the RFTs with non RFTs right away.

no spare please

bcaa here I come

The problem with Fix-a-Flat isn't the fact that it just washes away, but the fact that it gives the illusion of an actually fixed tire. People dump that stuff in and sometimes will drive for days or even weeks before taking the tire in.

That stuff does not inflate the tire enough to provide a proper fix. Most people usually end up destroying an otherwise fixable tire. It's called a heat ring it happens when an underinflated tire is drove on. It just destroys the sidewall. You can't fix that. Very rarely I saw people with fix-a-flat and a compressor do it properly. But that stuff is still nasty.

But others like Slime means it can't be fixed. It coats the inside of the tire so there's no way to attach a patch properly.

So if you're going to use fix-a-flat make sure to get a compressor, otherwise you'll just end up having to buy a Tire anyways.

As for if I want a Spare or not, I could go either way. It's going to be my weekend warrior car. So if something were to happen I could get a Tow and drive my DD around.

Can anyone estimate how much a donut/spare actually weighs? I read in R&T a few years back that every extra 100 lbs. or cargo will decrease your mileage by about 2%, so would omitting the spare really be worth the risk?

I would say about 40-45 lbs with a jack. Not that noticeable for daily driving IMO

I would want a spare.
Especially with how munted the roads are in Chch.
Lots of big pot holes waiting to be repaired. Then it rains and more pot holes apair.

Another one here for a Spare. I'll use a spare tyre over a can of expanding foam any day. If it happens I get another flat, then I've got the can for emergencies too. I'd also rather change a tyre myself rather than wait for my insurance company's roadside assistance to come and help me, which could take anywhere from 30 mins to an hour, depending on where I am.